In a surprise move, West Ham announced that they have signed Portuguese defender Manuel Da Costa from Fiorentina and sent attacking-midfielder Savio Nsereko in the opposite direction in a swap deal.

The Hammers will retain 50% of any fee gained if Savio is sold on and West Ham chief executive Scott Duxbury called it: "..a good deal for everyone concerned." Duxbury explained further "Although not for the want of trying, Savio has struggled to make an impact for various reasons, while Manuel is also looking for a fresh start. Had our financial situation been different we would have preferred to have kept and developed Savio."

"We will continue to look at home and across Europe for the brightest prospects as they best fit our vision for this club's future. However, we are required to make savings and our policy has always been to sell players on the fringes rather than established first-team players.

"With the fee we received for Savio and 50% sell-on together with acquiring the highly-rated Da Costa, it represented a great deal.''

Although even the best managers make mistakes - and that includes Sir Alex - this does all look rather odd from a fan's point of view and, in the general scheme of things, may have cost the club a good deal of money. Savio, let's not forget, was bought with the huge sum gained from the sale of Craig Bellamy to Manchester City last January. The Bellamy deal made financial sense and the reported £15m odd a good profit on a striker with a poor record of injury. However, with £9m reportedly being then spent on Savio the chance to replace Bellamy was lost, the goals dried up and, when Carlton Cole got injured, the Hammers just missed out on a Euro spot that looked theirs just a month earlier.

The odd thing was it wasn't as if Savio was tried and found wanting; in fact, the young German barely made an appearance at all and, when he did, he looked less than a youngster pulled from the youth team, not even seeming to want to impress. We can only assume that a major ricket was made here and, at least, the Hammers have got something from the deal and have the chance or recouping some sell on money.

Let's hope Da Costa is not found wanting too. An odd one this though....